Melbourne driver fined $1000 for cyclist’s ‘car-door’ death

Christine Savic is fined $1,000 dollars by Melbourne Magistrates Court for the "unintended catastophic outcome" of opening her door into a cyclist

Cyclists have described the $1,000 fine handed to a driver in Melbourne, who knocked a cyclist under the wheels of a truck when she opened her car door, as too lenient.

Alberto Paulon, 25, was riding along Sydney Road in the Australian city with his fiancée Christina when Christine Savic’s opening car door hit him and sent him into the path of a passing truck.

According to yahoo.com.au, Melbourne Magistrates Court heard that Ms Savic looked for cyclists in her side mirror before getting out of her car, but she only saw Paulon’s fiancée approaching and waited for her to pass.

As she opened her door, she clipped Paulon and he fell under the rear wheels of the truck and died instantly. Upon handing down the fine, Magistrate Brian Clifford described Ms Savic’s action as having an “unintended catastophic outcome”.

But Ed Hore from the Australian Cycling Alliance said that the fine was insufficient for the life that was taken away.

“$1000 is how much Alberto’s life was worth… Without proper penalties there is no incentive to look out for another human being,” he said, reported on yahoo.com.au.

Paulon’s fiancée Christina, however, told Australia’s 7News that she understood that Paulon’s death was an accident and that no amount of money would bring her partner back.

VicRoads, the government body that looks after roads in the state of Victoria, has said a segregated cycle way along Sydney Road would be the safest option, but a spokesman said there is no commitment to a ‘grander plan’ than the current painted road warnings.

Durian Rider

A kid in Adelaide recently got fined 1800$ for riding an ebike.

A driver gets fined 1000$ for their lack of care that killed a cyclist.

Sounds about right.

ummm…

rat race internalized. We are either rushing to do something, or rushing home to hide ourselves from the world. I like to hide with a nice bottle of wine; beer makes me piss too much and the hard stuff gives me a headache in the morning. So, now that I’ve explained that I’m just going to work work work until I can hide away again. Too much?

J1

I have to laugh at the people rushing to wherever to do something that really isn’t important in the grand scheme of things, 10 seconds added to your journey home is insignificant but sometimes another look could prevent you from killing someone, I’d take being ‘late’ home by 10 seconds personally, a lot of people rush home just to sit on there arses and watch TV which makes it even stupider.

It’s like when you see a car try to overtake about 4 others around a blind bend or your out riding and a car only just makes the overtake before they have a head on with oncoming traffic – what is it that’s so important that you’d risk at least 3 people’s lives!? If not many more! Nothing is, you’re just a dumb b*stard.

Nic Lowe

It’s impossible to force folk on the roads to take more care and look out for each other. You are either of that mindset or you are not – that goes for every road user. The bottom line is that we do not take road use seriously enough, don’t consider the consequences of our actions. Carelessness costs lives; ask yourself if you could do more to keep yourself and others safe on the road.

J1

It’s not an accident when someone is at fault, it’s an incident. That’s why RTA is the wrong term, it’s an RTI because 99% of the time somebody is to blame on the road.

Think about how many lives she’s affected though, apart from the obvious killing the guy, there’s the wife who had to watch her Fiancée get run over by a truck, the truck driver who ran him over, completely not at fault obviously – but it will affect him and then you’ve got any witnesses to a horrible incident that would’ve been sickening to see.

His Fiancée says about how no money could bring him back, correct but the issue is having such a light penalty for killing someone and affecting so many others is idiotic as it doesn’t serve as a deterrent at all. $1000 fine is nothing, it should’ve been a much bigger fine and prison, that’d send a message to all motorists that you can’t get away with something like this and to be more aware and a safer motorist.

ummm…

i agree. it is always a tough call though. is it really that hard to look? if she really wanted to make sure it was clear she could have. but i guess that extra second is just too much to ask in our busy world.

lustra

Sometimes you have to apportion blame and punish a negligent perpetrator accordingly.

Connect with us

Please keep me up to date with special offers and news from Cycling Weekly and other brands within the Time Inc. UK Group by email. You can unsubscribe at any time.

We'd also like to send you special offers and news just by email from other carefully selected companies we think you might like. Your personal details will not be shared with those companies - we send the emails and you can unsubscribe at any time. Please tick here if you are happy to receive these messages.